Towns can be liable over high-speed chase

Two Massachusetts towns are facing potential liability to a motorist who was injured when her vehicle was struck by a suspect during a high-speed police chase.

The Appeals Court has vacated judgments for the towns of Mattapoisett and Fairhaven, finding them not entitled to immunity.

“The need for the police to apprehend individuals who break the law is of vital importance in order to maintain a lawful society,” Appeals Court Judge Kent B. Smith acknowledged. “Counterbalancing that point is the obvious: high speed vehicle pursuits are extremely dangerous,” he continued.

“Recognizing the danger present in high-speed pursuits, many cities and towns, including Mattapoisett, have extensive guidelines relating to high speed pursuit,” Smith observed.

“The officer must discontinue the pursuit when it becomes apparent that the pursuit itself presents a more grave danger than letting the suspect go,” the judge explained. “The officers involved in the chase in question here were familiar with the policy.”

Under the circumstances, the Appeals Court concluded that “there are genuine issues of material fact whether the police were negligent in their balancing of the relevant policy factors in deciding to pursue [William] Lessa, such that the accident became reasonably foreseeable as a result of their conduct.”